(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a cooling fan for a vehicle, more particularly, to a method of controlling a cooling fan in which power consumption is minimized by controlling operation of cooling fans provided as a pair in a cooling module in an electric vehicle depending on a vehicle state.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In order to increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental pollution, development of an environmentally friendly vehicle that can substantially replace an internal combustion engine vehicle is desirable, and such an environmentally friendly vehicle can be classified into: an electric vehicle that is driven using a fuel cell or electricity as a power source, and a hybrid vehicle that is driven using an engine and an electric battery.
In an electric vehicle, a stack radiator cooling the fuel cell or the battery, an electrical equipment radiator cooling electrical equipment, a condenser, and a cooling module including cooling fans are disposed in front of the vehicle.
The cooling module efficiently cools the fuel cell or the battery and the electrical equipment depending on a running state of the vehicle and the operation of an air conditioner system, and it is required to improve cooling performance of the air conditioner system.
However, to ensure improved performance of the cooling module, capacity of the cooling fans must be increased and the cooling fans must be efficiently controlled, but it is difficult to ensure a mounting space in the limited engine compartment space, and as required cooling temperatures of the constituent elements are different, there is a drawback that it is difficult to control the cooling fans to meet the required cooling temperature of each of the constituent elements.
Also, among the required cooling temperatures of the constituent elements, when operating the cooling fans depending on a maximum cooling temperature, other constituent elements are unnecessary cooled, and the power consumption of the cooling fans is increased such that a maximum travel distance (i.e., range) of the vehicle is shortened.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.